Pioneers of Professional Wrestling: 1860–1899

By Tim Corvin

This historic collection explores the origins of mixed martial arts and professional wrestling in the United States and features profiles of more than 30 mat stars of the era, wrestling in art, over 100 antique photos and more.

There is perhaps no sport more primitive or more widely dispersed than wrestling. In its early days, many of the pros were Civil War soldiers who wrestled in camps, while others were lumberjacks, miners, and railroad men.

In Pioneers of Professional Wrestling, author Tim Corvin takes a look at how mixed martial arts and todays professional wresting began. He provides insight into this competitive, hand-to-hand combat sport from 1860 through 1899 by

delving into the sports history;

discussing the evolution of professional wrestling;

describing the various wresting styles; and

offering biographies of the sports pioneers.

A reference guide on the origins of mixed martial arts and professional wrestling, This book contains detailed listings of all available match results, newspaper clippings, tobacco cards, lithographs, and many fun facts, such as:

Abraham Lincoln was one of the American frontiers fiercest grapplers

William Muldoon and Clarence Whistler wrestled to a 7+ hour draw

Farmer Burns had such a strong neck that he could drop six feet on a hangmans noose to no effect, then whistle Yankee Doodle while hanging

Evan Strangler Lewis was the dirtiest wrestler in the game and often maimed his opponents

The Terrible Turk was so violent he caused riots

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Jan 20, 2014
• ISBN: 9781480804593

Tim Corvin

Tim Corvin earned a bachelor’s degree in wildlife sciences and a master’s degree in education. He works as a freelance environmental educator. As an athlete and entertainer, Corvin has performed in stage productions and has worked with professional wrestling promotions. He currently lives in Tennessee.

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Copyright © 2014 Tim S. Corvin.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4808-0458-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-0459-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013923114

Archway Publishing rev. date: 3/3/2014

Contents

Introduction: A Quick History Lesson

Colonel James H. Mclaughlin, Colonel

Homer Lane (Of New York)

John Mcmahon, The Green Mountain Boy

Donald Dinnie

Professor William Miller, Professor

Edwin Bibby

Theobaud (Thiebaud) Bauer (Of France)

Henry Moses Dufur

James Owens

Andre Christol (Of France)

Clarence Whistler, Kansas Cyclone, Wonder Of The West

Captain James C. Daly, Captain

Duncan C. Ross (Of Cobourg, Ontario, Canada)

Jack Carkeek

Karl Abs, The German Oak

Joe Acton, Little Joe, Limey Joe, The Little Demon

Martin Farmer Burns, Farmer

William Muldoon, The Solid Man, The Iron Duke

Tom Connors (Of England)

Evan Strangler Lewis, Strangler Real Name: Henry Clayton

Wrestling Trading Cards:

Sorakichi Matsuda (Aka Matsada Sorakichi), The Jap

Tom Cannon

Ernest Roeber

Yusuf İsmail, The Terrible Turk

Bernarr Macfadden

Tom Jenkins, One-Eye

Fred Beell

Lightweights:

Champions Of The 19Th Century:

News And Results: 1860 - 1899

About The Author:

WingL.jpg Acknowledgements: WingR.jpg

I would like to thank the following for their countless hours of research and contributions. Without them this book would not be possible:

Gordon Anderson (Farmer Burns); Matt Farmer (Research); Tom Fortunato (Antiques); Mark S. Hewitt (John McMahon, Tom Jenkins); Tim Hornbaker (Strangler Lewis);

Glynn A. Leyshon (Duncan C. Ross); Don Luce (Research); Deirdre Morris (William Miller); Graham Noble (Yusuf İsmail); Stu Saks (Research); Joseph R. Svinth (Sorakichi Matsuda)

Suggested Websites:

Pro Wrestling Illustrated: pwi-online.com/

Legacy of Wrestling: legacyofwrestling.com/

1 Wrestling Legends: 1wrestlinglegends.com/

Sandow & The Golden Age of Iron Men: sandowplus.co.uk/

Journal of Many Arts: jmanly.ejmas.com/

Bernarr Macfadden: bernarrmacfadden.com

The Web’s Best of Amateur Wrestling: wrestlingsbest.com/

Suggested Reading:

Catch Wrestling: A Wild and Wooly Look at the Early Days of Pro Wrestling in America

by Mark S. Hewitt. Paladin Press, 2005 ISBN-10: 1581604734

Donald Dinnie

by David Webster & Gordon Dinnie. Ardo Publishing, 1999 ISBN-10: 0953659607

Master of Men: The Life’s Work of William Muldoon

by Tony Wolf. Lulu, 2011. ASIN: B0053GJFLG

WingL.jpg Introduction: A Quick History Lesson WingR.jpg

Origins of Professional Wrestling:

There is perhaps no sport more primitive than or as widely dispersed as wrestling. Before weapons, early man settled their differences and reigned supremacy by way of hand-to-hand combat. It’s earliest documented history dates back to ancient Babylonian and Egyptian art from 3000 BC; literary presence in the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh; and has been known and practiced in ancient Persian, Chinese and Japanese civilizations. The Greeks are credited for popularizing wrestling as a competitive sport in the Ancient Olympic Games.

Professional (paid to compete) wrestling began in France around 1830, when showmen presented wrestlers under names such as Edward, the Steel Eater, Gustave d’Avignon, the Bone Wrecker, or Bonnet, the Ox of the Low Alps. They would challenge members of the public to knock them down for 500 francs. In 1848, Napoleonic soldier and French showman, Jean Exbroyat formed the first modern wrestling circus troupe, and established a rule not to execute holds below the waist. He named this style Flat Hand wrestling, to distinguish it from other forms of hand-to-hand combat that allowed striking. This new style soon spread through the rest of Europe, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy, Denmark and Russia, under the names of Greco-Roman, Classic, or French Wrestling.

Wrestling Styles:

During its origins, there were many different types of wrestling styles used in professional wrestling, which were introduced to America by men from various countries. But the three most popular styles were Collar-and-Elbow, Greco-Roman, and Catch-as-Catch-Can.

Collar-and-Elbow:

This style was brought to America by Irish immigrants in the 1830’s and became widely known during the American Civil War. It formed the basis for the American professional wrestling techniques of the 1870’s and 1880’s.

Collar-and-Elbow is a standing style of wrestling, after the initial stances are taken as defenses against kicking, punching, and rushing. As the name implies, it involves grasping one another’s collar and elbow and through various hip locks, cross buttocks, grapevines and trips the goal is to toss the opponent to the ground. A fall was called when one man touched the ground with either two hips and one shoulder or both shoulders and one hip. As the 19th century drew to a close, Collar-and-Elbow wrestling phased out, while Greco-Roman and Catch-as-Catch-Can increased in popularity.

Greco-Roman:

First introduced to America by Frenchman Thiebaud Bauer in 1875, it was contested at the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and has been included in every edition of the Summer Olympics since 1908. The name Greco-Roman was applied to this style as a way of suggesting it to be similar to the wrestling of ancient civilizations surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, especially at ancient Greek Olympics. Italian wrestler Basilio Bartoletti first coined the term Greco-Roman for the sport to underline the connection to ancient values.

This style of wrestling forbids holds below the waist, which is the major difference from Catch wrestling. This restriction results in an emphasis on throws because a wrestler cannot use trips to take an opponent to the ground, or avoiding throws by hooking or grabbing the opponent’s leg. Arm drags, bear hugs, and headlocks, which can be found in Catch-as-Catch Can, have a greater role in Greco-Roman. In particular, a throw known as a Suplex is used, in which the offensive wrestler lifts his opponent in a high arch while falling backward on his own neck to a bridge to bring his opponent’s shoulders down to the mat. Even on the mat, a Greco-Roman wrestler must still find several ways to turn his opponent’s shoulders to the mat for a fall without legs, including (but not limited to) techniques known as the Body-Lock and the Gut-Wrench.

Professional matches in Greco-Roman wrestling were known for their great brutality. Body slams, chokeholds, and head-butting were allowed; even chemical substances in the hair were used to weaken the opponent. By the end of the 19th century, gouging with the nails, punching, and violently slamming the arms together around the opponent’s stomach were forbidden. Greco-Roman matches were also famous for their length. Professionally, it was common for matches to last two or three hours, if not longer.

Catch-as-Catch-Can:

The Catch-style of wrestling is what today’s professional wrestling and mixed martial arts competitions are primarily based on. It is the basic grappling style where various holds and tactics are used with the intent to force the opponent to submit, or pin both opponent’s shoulders to the ground at once. It is a classical hybrid grappling style that was developed in Britain in the early 1870’s and later refined and popularized by the wrestlers of travelling carnivals, who developed their own submission holds into their arsenal to increase the effectiveness against their opponents.

It was originally thought of as unorthodox and a more lax style, therefore it is also known as Freestyle. Catch wrestling differs from Greco-Roman in its allowed grabbing below the waist, including leg grips.

Catch wrestling is a mix of a number of different styles; the English Cumberland and Westmorland, Cornwall and Devon, Lancashire, Irish Collar-and-Elbow, Greco Roman, as well as Japanese Judo and jujitsu styles. In 1871, J.G. Chambers, an exercise promoter and editor of Land and Water, introduced a new system of wrestling at Little Bridge Grounds, West Brompton, which he called the Catch-as-Catch-Can style.

The British term Catch-as-Catch-Can is generally understood to mean catch (hold) anywhere you can. When Catch wrestling reached the United States in the late 19th century, it became extremely popular with the wrestlers of the carnivals. Following the French tradition, wrestlers challenged locals as part of the carnival’s athletic show, and the locals had their chance to win cash rewards if they could defeat the show’s strongman by a pin or submission.

As carnival wrestlers travelled, they met with a variety of people, learning and using techniques from various other folk wrestling disciplines, especially Irish Collar-and-Elbow, many of which were accessible due to a huge influx of immigrants in the United States during this era.

Eventually, the carnival wrestlers began preparing for the worst kind of unarmed assault by any tough local, and aimed to end the matches quickly and decisively via submission. Hooks are used as the method to gain submissions within seconds. In traditional Catch wrestling, great submission experts are often called, Hookers. A hook is a catch that stretches, spreads or compresses any joint or limb. Examples of these techniques are the Arm Bar, Hammerlock, Wrist Lock, Head Scissors, Body Scissors, Achilles Tendon Hold, Knee Bar, Ankle Lock, Abdominal Stretch, Toe Hold, Half Nelson, Full Nelson and countless others.

1Introduction.jpg

The term no holds barred was used to describe the method used in Catch wrestling tournaments during the late 19th century, wherein no wrestling holds were banned from the competition, regardless of how dangerous they might be. The term was later applied to mixed martial arts matches, especially at the advent of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Catch wrestlers can win a match by either submission or pin, and most matches are contested as the best two-out-of-three falls. Just as today, tapping out signifies a submission, as did shouting out Uncle! back in the heyday of Catch wrestling, pins signified defeat and victory by way of control. The rules of Catch wrestling would change from venue to venue. Matches contested with side bets at coal mines or logging camps favored submission wins, while professionally booked matches and amateur contests favored pins, which catered to the broader and more genteel paying fan-base.

Abraham Lincoln Popularizes Wrestling in America:

Early professional wrestling in America began to flourish in the 1860’s and peaked in popularity in the 1880’s. The election of Abraham Lincoln as President in 1861 had much to do with this rise in popularity. During this time, it was important for a politician to demonstrate bravery and vitality, which naturally applied to Lincoln; and his wrestling past was often mentioned during his campaigns.

Lincoln was